The Secret Admirer
by joiedevivre2011
Summary: Originally posted on tumblr, written for the Rizzles Fanfic Challenge Week 11: Decisions. Summary: Maura receives a series of daily clues with presents from a secret admirer.


**Another tumblr migration, this time written for the Rizzles Fanfic Challenge theme of "decisions." Hope you enjoy. :)**

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**Monday, 3:15pm:**

The small bouquet with lilies was delivered by a florist down the street. The note that accompanied it didn't have any information or clue indicating who the sender was. It simply read: _Will you_

Two words. No punctuation. Obviously, in Maura's mind, the start of a question.

Perplexed, Maura rang the florist shop to inquire further about the note. The woman who answered the phone confirmed that the delivery and note were both correct, but said she could not reveal who made the order.

Her confusion only grew, but with no other information to go on, the medical examiner had no choice but to brush it aside and continue working on her reports.

**Tuesday, 9:27am:**

Maura sat at her desk, staring at the opened note in her hand.

_go on_

Two more words and still no punctuation.

This time, however, the note was accompanied by a single red rose and a bag of fair-trade whole coffee beans. One of her favorite brands, actually.

_Will you go on_

Two notes and four words. She didn't like to guess, but the hypothesis that had begun to form in the back of her mind was that someone was in the process of asking her out on a date. Someone she clearly knew. Or who at least clearly knew her.

She began to cycle through the men she knew well: Frost, Frankie, Tommy, Korsak, Cavanaugh. She was fairly certain that she could rule out Korsak and Cavanaugh, as she had witnessed both, at various points, flirting openly with a certain _older_ Rizzoli. So one of the first three was the most likely culprit.

Unless…

Maura quickly gave the thought a mental kick. It wasn't possible.

She thought about mentioning these little deliveries to Jane, but suddenly felt it was too silly. Perhaps she'd mention it when she had more information to support her hypothesis.

**Wednesday, 2:25pm:**

Another delivery from the florist - this time with daisies. Another note: _a date_

_Will you go on a date_

Her hypothesis had proven true. Someone was asking her out on a date. The next words, she thought, would simply be _with me?_ And according to how the other deliveries and notes had arrived, the next part would arrive Thursday.

The item that accompanied the daisies and note, however, bothered her greatly. A chess piece - a knight, specifically. The only piece that didn't move in a straight line. The only one allowed to jump over other pieces. Not that these facts were actually relevant to identifying Maura's secret admirer. For all she knew, those pieces of information weren't indicative at all of her admirer's identity.

But one thing she did know was that she'd only ever played chess with Tommy. Except the _one_ move Jane had made on Tommy's behalf that resulted in checkmate and thus an immediate end to the match.

Not that this piece of information mattered either, since Jane wouldn't be asking her on a date anyway.

The clues she'd laid out, figuratively, didn't point to any one person without the chess piece. With it, though…had Tommy come up with this scheme to ask her out? It didn't fit with what she knew about him, nor any of her interactions with him.

Either way, she knew if he ended up being the one behind everything, Jane would likely be furious.

So Maura continued her silence on the matter around Jane.

**Thursday, 1:01pm:**

Another single red rose from the florist. Another note (_with me_), again with only two words. No gift or item accompanied either this time.

So there would be no question mark to end it, which meant, according to the pattern so far, there would likely be another delivery and note, probably Friday.

During her interactions with Frost and Frankie that day, she paid extra attention to their words and body language, trying to establish if either could be her secret admirer.

Instead she went home that night absolutely frustrated. She was no closer to figuring out the identity of her admirer.

She couldn't even discuss it with Jane, because what would she say? "Someone's sending me flowers and gifts this week, asking me out on a date? One of them was a chess piece. Do you think it might be Tommy trying to pursue something with me again?"

Jane would not be okay with it.

Soaking in a hot bath that night, instead of feeling excited and nervous about having a secret admirer, Maura simply felt wistful and tired.

The only person she wanted to ask her on a date was the one person she knew never would.

**Friday, 10:17am:**

There had been a dozen roses and two envelopes delivered, one labeled "open first."

_tonight?_

Maura stared at the first card and unexpectedly felt a surge of anger.

Slowly, she opened the flap of the second envelope and slipped out the card.

_7:30pm  
You now have a decision to make, Maura Isles.  
If you want to have dinner with me, leave your porch light on.  
If you don't, leave it off. I'll pretend none of this ever happened, and you'll never know it was me._

"I don't even know who you are!" the woman growled to herself.

**7:13pm:**

After fighting a headache all day, Maura had left work earlier than normal. Arriving home, she fed Bass, changed into yoga clothes, and meditated for 30 minutes, trying to calm her nerves.

Now here she was, standing in front of the full-length mirror in her closet, assessing the outfit she'd chosen. Yet she was still wavering back and forth about whether or not to leave the light on. Her biggest fear was that it'd be Tommy, and that liaison was not one she was keen on pursuing.

Though she was not interested in Frankie or Frost either, she was certainly curious and flattered by the attention.

While a very small part of her hoped it would be Jane showing up at her doorstep, she continued pushing the feeling away, knowing it would bring nothing but disappointment.

**7:25pm:**

The porch light was still off. She wasn't sure that she could handle giving false hope to someone who was obviously close enough to her already, if he knew specific gifts to woo her with, when she was already in love with someone else.

**7:30pm:**

Maura knew had to turn the light on. She didn't know why. But she knew had to.

Quickly she flipped the switch and moved back into the living room, sitting on the sofa and waiting. She couldn't even bring herself to look at the door.

**7:33pm:**

The doorbell rang.

Slowly Maura rose off the couch, smoothing out the lines she knew would have formed on her dress, and walked to the front door. She tried to sneak a peek through the window beside the door, but wherever he'd decided to stand, she couldn't see him.

Bracing herself for whoever would be there, she slowly flicked the two deadbolt locks and opened the door.

"You almost didn't turn on the light."

"It was you," Maura breathed out.

"Yeah." Jane's smile was brilliant. "It was me."

The two stood there, smiling at each other, for several moments before Maura finally pulled the other woman into the house and closed the door behind her, never letting go of Jane's hand. Leaning back against the door, Maura pulled Jane in close.

"You now have a decision to make, Jane Rizzoli," she smirked.

Jane cocked an eyebrow and wrapped her arms around the other woman's waist.

"If you want to kiss me, leave —"

The brunette quickly silenced her with a kiss.


End file.
